Rousseff Narrowly Wins Re-election

In the 2014 presidential election, President Rousseff led the Oct. 5 first round of voting by 42%. However, she faced Aecio Neves in an Oct. 26 runoff. Neves, popular with investors, was a surprise second-place finisher in the first round, coming in with 34% of the vote. In the Oct. 5 parliamentary elections, Rousseff's Workers' Party won the most seats, taking 70 of 513.

Rousseff won the Oct. 26 runoff by a slim margin. She took 51.6% of the vote to Neves 48.4%. Throughout the election, Rousseff campaigned that her party's 12-year rule had helped 35 million citizens overcome poverty. However, Brazil has also seen a recession in recent years, as well as a major oil company go bankrupt, and corruption charges, all factors in making the presidential election a close one. The controversial $11.5 billion price tag to host the World Cup almost threatened Rousseff's re-election, but the event ended up being hailed a success.